Despite the news heading: "...it is not possible to conclude that sweetened beverages are the direct cause of the relationship they have shown."

Drinking two sweetened drinks per day? You could be doubling your risk of diabetes

"A most interesting finding was that the higher risk was the same for both sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages, suggesting that greater risk of diabetes was not directly related to higher calorie intake, or adverse metabolic effects of sugar (in the form of sucrose) from the sweetened drinks," Christine Williams, professor of human nutrition at the University of Reading in the UK, said in a statement. She was not involved in the research.

"The study suffers from the same limitations as apply to most association studies. Even after controlling for effects of many other possible factors, including poor diet and heavier body weight, it is not possible to conclude that sweetened beverages are the direct cause of the relationship they have shown."